An international map of gender gaps

This paper revisits stylized facts on female labour force participation, employment and unemployment, using a unified and up-to-date dataset with comparable information for high-income (HI) and middle-low income (MLI) countries. We find that: (i) global trends in labour supply in the last 30 years are mainly shaped by the increasing trend in female participation in HI countries that almost offset the contemporaneous decrease in male participation; (ii) gaps in unemployment between man and women widen during economic crises, with men usually more hit than women (with the notable exception of the Covid-crisis); (iii) the increase in female employment over the last 30 years is mostly driven by the expansion of the service sector; (iv) finally, institutional setting and policies boost women’s labour supply only once countries enter in the last stage of their economic development.